It made me rethink the roots of our deepest fears and insecurities,and why we often disappoint ourselves in how we manifest them'Bill Clinton,GuardianWinner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1974 and the culmination of a life's work,The Denial of Death is Ernest Becker's brilliant and impassioned answer to the'why'of human existence. In bold contrast to the predominant Freudian school of thought,Becker tackles the problem of the vital lie - man's refusal to acknowledge his own mortality. The book argues that human civilisation is a defence against the knowledge that we are mortal beings. Becker states that humans live in both the physical world and a symbolic world of meaning,which is where our'immortality project'resides. We create in order to become immortal - to become part of something we believe will last forever. In this way we hope to give our lives meaning.In The Denial of Death,Becker sheds new light on the nature of humanity and issues a call to life and its living that still resonates decades after it was written.
MEDIA REVIEWS
Publisher: Profile Books LtdISBN: 9781788164269Number of pages: 336Weight: 240 gDimensions: 194 x 126 x 20 mmEdition: Main
MEDIA REVIEWS
It made me rethink the roots of our deepest fears and insecurities,and why we often disappoint ourselves in how we manifest themA brave work of electrifying intelligence and passion,optimistic and revolutionary,destined to endure.An original,creative contribution to a synthesis of this generation's extensive explorations in psychology and theology.One of those rare masterpieces that will stimulate your thoughts,your intellectual curiosity,and last but not least,your soul.Concerns the'universality of the fear of death'... Its approach is more philosophical than psychologically or medically empirical.Meditating on death and its influence on our culture... that the fear of death is the single motivating fact of human endeavour and that all art and philosophy come from trying to deal with obsolescence.One of the few great books of the 20th or any other century.It is hard to overestimate the importance of this book: Becker succeeds brilliantly in what he sets out to do,and the effort was necessary.
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